In it, I found some definite and probable borrowings from Chinook Jargon. Some are single words, others are phrases partly or wholly modeled on the Jargon but using Shm’algyack Tsimshian words.

There are fewer items in this list than I found in either Tlingit or Haida. That harmonizes with the impression I’ve heard from other linguists that Tsimshian was less impacted by Chinuk Wawa than other languages of the region were.

Of the words in today’s list, several share a trait with Tlingit & Haida borrowings from the Jargon, of shifting the stress to the final syllable. On the other hand, and maybe it’s just due to the smaller data set, I see much less evidence here of a strong shared heritage with broader BC Jargon.

I left out items like ‘jeans’ (‘backsha dsina, literally ‘pants jeans’) and such, which I believe to be more recent, and therefore more likely borrowed from English than from (let alone used in) local Jargon.

A helpful pointer about reading the Tsimshian words here: in the SE Alaskan writing style, stress is shown by underlining a syllable. Single-syllable words aren’t underlined.

‘dsig‘dsig ‘car, wagon, vehicle’ — cp. t’síkt’sik, with the north coast stress shift to final syllable; note that Tsimshian, like Haida, accurately preserves the ejective sounds (signaled by the apostrophes) in the original Jargon word